Just as those who live on the Pacific Northwest’s coasts were surprised to discover “in the 1990s that we live in one of the planet’s great seismic subduction zones,” The Daily Astorian writes, they should now be amazed “to be in the midst of a massive boom in crude-oil transportation facilities.” The paper isn’t entirely happy about this development, potential jobs and economic benefits notwithstanding. “It should be up to us,” the paper argues, “and not industry fat cats from far away to determine what our coastline’s future will be.”

The notion might make “education theorists … gulp,” but a high-poverty elementary school in Auburn, Wash., “seems to be proving that sometimes building on the old ways” is the best approach, says The Seattle Times. Among the old ways driving test scores upward at Gildo Rey Elementary, the paper writes, “is the way the students drill, drill, drill. Teachers ask questions; students shout answers in unison.” Teachers there “don’t see standardized tests as a nuisance, but rather a measure of progress.”

The (Eugene) Register-Guard notes that “political posturing over raising the minimum wage is political theater.” Democrats “have landed on an issue they believe can help in November’s congressional elections,” the paper says, but know that any bill approved by the Senate “faces near-certain doom in the Republican-run House.” Raising the minimum wage “deserves a better fate,” the paper argues, as “the American dream is doing a fast fade” and raising pay for those at the bottom of the economic ladder is “a step in the right direction.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal isn’t afraid to pick a fight with animal lovers, arguing that “no lobby is more dedicated, irrational, emotional and unbending.” The context for this swipe? The paper praises four Las Vegas city councilors for standing up to the “hysteria and alarmism of the creature brigade” and approving “a modest plan to allow horse-drawn carriages downtown.”

Paul Whitefield of The Los Angeles Times’ editorial staff takes issue with one explanation, offered by an auto industry analyst, for Toyota’s decision to move some operations from California to Plano, Texas. “’Texas is the most male, macho state in the country,’” an auto industry analyst at Miami University in Ohio said, reasoning that this will allow Toyota to “’learn more about what big-truck buyers want in their vehicles.’” Whitefield, not amused, responds that “It’s one thing to lose jobs because they were stolen from us, fair and square. It’s another to have our manhood questioned.”

In today’s Oregonian, finally, the editorial board discusses the changing place of Washington County tech giant Intel in the community. It can be found at The Stump.